Automatic pneumatic balance for water-towers or the like.



No. 731,889. PATENTBD JUNE 23,1903 U i H. H. GORTER. AUTOMATIC PNEUMATICBALANCE FQR'WATER TOWERS OR THE LIKE.

- APPLICATION rninn BBPT.11,1902. no monm.

\ INVENTOR.

2o inclinationthereof. This latter force will increase from zero to amaximum l UNITED STATES citizen of the United .1 the object of my sameor at any portion itself u approximately a counterbalance which willvary-in like manner.

Patented June 23, 1903.

Price.

HENRY H. GORTER, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

AUTOMATIC PNEUMATIC BALANCEFOR WATER-TOWERS OR THE LIKE..

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 731,889, dated June 28,1903. Application filed September 11, 1902. Serial No. 122,910. (Nomodel.)

To all whom may concern; Be it known that I,HENRY H.' G RTER, a States,residing at San Francisco, in'the county of San Francisco and State ofCalifornia,have invented certain new and useful'lmprovements inAutomatic Pneumatic Balances for Water-Towers or the Like,

of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to automatic pneumatic balances for water-towersand the like,

improved means for counterbalancing the weight of a tower in raising orlowering the may stand.

. The especial object ofmy invention is to provide a device ofthischaracter the bal anoing force of which shall automatically protothe force exerted by the weight of the tower at varying as thetower ahorizontal posimoves from a vertical to tion. 7 i i It is the objectofmy invention to provide A further object is to provide onewhich shallbe cheap and simple in construction and very easily adjusted for varioussizes ef towers.

1 My invention therefore resides in the novel construction, combination,andarrangement of parts for the above ends, hereinafter fully t a sideelevation showing y with my improvement.

specified and claims.

,In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a tower equipped Fig. 2 is abroken particularly pointed out in the end view of thesame. i

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents the truck mounted upon wheels 2and upon one shaft 8, operated by end of which the tower 3 is carried.Said tower is pivotally mounted, as shown at 4,

upon standards 5 upon the truck, and upon the lower end of the tower 3is secured a segmental gear 6, engaged by a worm 7 on a a worm-wheel 9,driven- .by a water-wheel 1.0, operated by pressurewater from a receiver11, supplied by pipes from thecity-main.

The above construction invention being to provide position of restiu'which it approximately gle from the horizontal.

is similar to that shown in my Patent No. 645,470 and need not here befurther specified. Upon said segment 6 is formed a groove 12, in whichlies a cable 13, attached to said segment at a point in line with thecentral axis of the tower, said cable passing around a sheave 14 andbeing attached to the end of a piston-rod 15, passing through astuflingbox 16 in the end of a compressed-air cylinder 17 and connectedwith a piston 18 in said cylinder. A pipe 19 connects with the interiorof said compressed-air cylinder, and by meansof said pipe compressed airmay be forced into said cylinder from a hand-pump 20. g A gage 21,mounted upon the end of the cylinder, indicates the pressure of airtherein. This pressure will be maintained at a certain specific pressurefor the particular tower to which the device is applied, this specificpressure depending upon the weight of the tower and the area of thepiston, the pressure being such that the force exerted upon the pistonwhen the compression of the air is at its maximum and the tower is inits lowest position will nearly balance the weight of the tower in suchposition. As the tower is raised by means of the water-motor the pistonwill be allowed to move outward, increasingthe length of thecompressed-air chamber and correspondingly reducing the pressure persquare inch upon the piston. The pressure upon the piston will thusbereduced at the same time that the force exerted by the weight of thetower is diminished by reason of the tower being raised to a greater an-A The length of the pressure-chamber will be when the tower has arrivedat a vertical position the piston will have traveled to such adistance-thatthe air in sure, so that no force is then exerted upon thetower. It will readily be seen that should the tower swing past thevertical and point in the opposite direction from its original directionthe point of attachment of the cable will swing to the opposite side ofthe sheave, and the pull of the cable on the tower will also be reversedin direction, thus at all times counterbalancing the weight of thetower.

so arranged thatthe compressed-air chamberis substantially atatmospheric pres- ICO Theeminimum length of the compressedv air chambermust bear such a ratio to the maximum length thereof that the pressurewhen the air is compressed to its maximum will be sufficient to nearlybalance the tower lowest position then a pressure of eightyfour poundsgage-pressure would be a suitable pressure to give to the piston tosufficiently balance the tower in said position. This would mean anabsolute pressure of ninety-eight pounds per square inch, adding theatmospheric pressure. To obtain this pressure from an absolute pressureof fourteen pounds to the square inch, which is the pressure when thecylinder is expanded to its maximum, the cylinder must be compressed toone-seventh its former length. To compress it to one-seventh its formerlength, it would be necessary that the piston should be brought towithin six inches of the head through which the piston-rod works. It isto be understood that with this construction the work done incompressing the air is done by the tower itself in moving from thevertical to the horizontal position. The hand-pump is only necessary totake up any leakage which would occur by an apparatus standing idle forsome time.

The great advantage of the above construction is. that by the usethereof a very much smaller motive power can be employed for raising thetower, since the work to be done is now only to overcome the frictionand the inertia of the mass of the tower instead of having to do thework of raising the whole weight of the tower, as heretofore. Thisenables many parts of the apparatus to be made very much lighter,simpler, and cheaper.

I claim 1. In an automatic pneumatic balance for water-towers and thelike, the combination of a compressed-air cylinder, a piston operatedthereby, a piston-rod therefor,'a swinging tower operatively connectedwith said piston to move the same to compress the air in said cylinderby the descent ofthe tower, and means, independent of the compressedaircylinder, for elevating said tower, substantially as described.

2. In an automatic pneumatic balance for water-towers and the like, thecombination of a compressed-air cylinder, 2. piston operated thereby, apiston-rod therefor, a swinging tower operatively connected with saidpiston to move the same to compress the air in said cylinder by thedescent of the tower, means, independent of said cylinder, for eleyatingsaid tower, and a pump for forcing compressed air into said cylinder,substantially as described.

3. In an automatic pneumatic balance for water-towers and the like, thecombination of a compressed-air cylinder, a piston operated thereby, apiston-rod, a swinging tower, a cable secured to said tower at a pointbelow the pivot thereof and in the line of the axis of said tower, asheave below the pivot of said tower, said cable passing around saidsheave and being connected to the pistonrod, and means, independent ofthe compressed-air cylinder, for elevating said tower, substantially asdescribed.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

H. H. GORTER.

Witnesses:

FRANCIS M. WRIGHT, BEssIE GORFINKEL.

